Here is great news for anyone unable to see the current Magic Band perform live. A full-length concert DVD mixed in 5.1 surround and stereo is now available from Subdiva.

Nearly twenty classic Beefheart compositions are rejuvenated on stage by five of the finest musicians who ever performed in The Magic Band. The playlist ranges from storming versions of such crowd-pleasers as 'Moonlight On Vermont' and 'Big Eyed Beans From Venus' to the intricate guitar work of 'Evening Bell and the melodic 'Alice In Blunderland'.

Especially interesting are the instrumental versions of songs such as 'I Wanna Find A Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go', 'My Human Gets Me Blues' and 'Steal Softly Thru Snow'. Without Don's voice, for Don is no longer performing, these compositions can be clearly heard as the mind and finger bending riddles they are.

The vocal parts in this Magic Band are taken by John French who comments "Don had a great lung capacity - he had a 50 inch chest. I have to breathe a lot harder and low frequencies take a lot more energy to push. I did a lot of training and exercise to get the most I could out of this puny 42 inch chest."

This film of the London Shepherds Bush Empire concert in April 2003 (80 minutes) was directed by Elaine Shepherd who was also director of the BBC documentary 'The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart'.

A second DVD 'Crows Milk' (originally titled 'Like Bluegrass, Only Weirder') is included in the package. This is a 50 minute documentary which follows The Magic Band rehearsals in California in February 2003, recording of the CD 'Back To The Front', the feelings of the band members about the project, rehearsals in London for the two 2003 UK concerts, plus concert and backstage footage from Camber Sands and Shepherds Bush. John Peel provides the narration.

There is also a short amount of recently found 8mm footage from John French's home movie collection which shows Don sitting on a sofa and sketching and Don viewing a car in a garage while wearing a neck-brace and a 'coolie' hat. He had apparently had just had a crash in his other car which was a wreck. This material dates from the early to mid 1970s.

The DVD is initially available on multi-region PAL, though an NTSC version for the US may be made later pending copyright issues. The price is £14.99 from Subdiva